Left Ctrl / Right Alt key "stuck" - SOLVED - Ask for Help

songsoverruins

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46 posts

Last active: Sep 25 2015 08:43 PM
Joined: 01 Oct 2005

Hello all,

So, I just spend about two hours struggling with a keyboard problem and I _finally_ solved it. Thought I might share my thoughts here.

Have a ThinkPad R61i here with WinXP SP2. Since last night my right-alt key suddenly stopped working properly. Rather annoying as I have a whole bunch of hotkeys strung through my RAlt key. When e.g. pressing RAlt + p it produced ö. This was actually not due to AutoHotkey. Even when I exited AutoHotkey completely the problem persisted. What the key history in AutoHotkey DID show however was that whenever I pressed the RAlt key it would automatically be accompanied by a Ctrl keystroke!

Using windows on-screen keyboard (most people will find this under Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessability > On-Screen keyboard) showed something similar. As soon as I pressed the RAlt key the layout changed showing all these symbols.

After spending about an hour searching in the wrong direction (does it have anything to do with Sticky Keys perhaps? This in-built function in windows for disabled people. You can find it in Control Panel > Accessability Options > the tab "Keyboard") I finally came across this post, which directed me to a Wikipedia page on the RAlt key, or actually the AltGr key. The first link I just mentioned has the following quote from a previous version of this Wikipedia page

"On those keyboard layouts having a defined AltGr key, it is equivalent to holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys together ..."

And that was exactly my problem! I had just been setting up this system anew after a virus infection caused me to restore the system to factory defaults, and I guess that while twiddling around with some settings I must have changed the keyboard layout to US-International.

The solution? There are only a few layouts where the RAlt key is not defined as a AltGr key, and the United States layout is one of them (see here) So, I went to Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > the second tab "Languages" and in the field "Text services and input languages" clicked on "Details". This opens another window "Text Services and Input Languages". In the second field "Installed Services" I had two keyboard layouts listed "US-International" and "US" with "US-International" being highlighted as it was currently in use. I selected that one, clicked on the "Remove" button and selected the "US" layout. One reboot later and, presto, the RAlt key is behaving like the RAlt key again, and not like an AltGr.

- Posted 25 December 2008 - 11:15 AM

For the music lover who can sit and enjoy the sound of someone else's evolving nightmare.

Carlol

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Last active: Aug 03 2010 03:45 AM
Joined: 14 Aug 2006

Thanks for the educating input

- Posted 25 December 2008 - 03:36 PM

Tigs

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Thanks, this works perfectly! The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MKLC) helped me to switch AltGr to RAlt on my regional keyboard:

- Install MKLC
- File -> Load existing keyboard
- Project -> Properties: Uncheck "Right Alt treated as Ctrl+Alt". Note that if this option is disabled, you need to unmap all keys used with AltGr and AltGr+Shift in the MKLC. Anyway you can map these keys back in your autohotkey script.
- Project -> Build DLL and Setup Package
- Install
- Swith to your custom keyboard & Enjoy

- Posted 12 March 2010 - 12:30 AM

galadar

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Spent hours trying to figure out why my keyboard wasnt working.

might just be my luck but i removed the mouse and the keyboard began to work.

- Posted 28 September 2010 - 02:31 AM

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Hello all,

So, I just spend about two hours struggling with a keyboard problem and I _finally_ solved it. Thought I might share my thoughts here.

Have a ThinkPad R61i here with WinXP SP2. Since last night my right-alt key suddenly stopped working properly. Rather annoying as I have a whole bunch of hotkeys strung through my RAlt key. When e.g. pressing RAlt + p it produced ö. This was actually not due to AutoHotkey. Even when I exited AutoHotkey completely the problem persisted. What the key history in AutoHotkey DID show however was that whenever I pressed the RAlt key it would automatically be accompanied by a Ctrl keystroke!

Using windows on-screen keyboard (most people will find this under Start > Programs > Accessories > Accessability > On-Screen keyboard) showed something similar. As soon as I pressed the RAlt key the layout changed showing all these symbols.

After spending about an hour searching in the wrong direction (does it have anything to do with Sticky Keys perhaps? This in-built function in windows for disabled people. You can find it in Control Panel > Accessability Options > the tab "Keyboard") I finally came across this post, which directed me to a Wikipedia page on the RAlt key, or actually the AltGr key. The first link I just mentioned has the following quote from a previous version of this Wikipedia page

"On those keyboard layouts having a defined AltGr key, it is equivalent to holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys together ..."

And that was exactly my problem! I had just been setting up this system anew after a virus infection caused me to restore the system to factory defaults, and I guess that while twiddling around with some settings I must have changed the keyboard layout to US-International.

The solution? There are only a few layouts where the RAlt key is not defined as a AltGr key, and the United States layout is one of them (see here) So, I went to Control Panel > Regional and Language Options > the second tab "Languages" and in the field "Text services and input languages" clicked on "Details". This opens another window "Text Services and Input Languages". In the second field "Installed Services" I had two keyboard layouts listed "US-International" and "US" with "US-International" being highlighted as it was currently in use. I selected that one, clicked on the "Remove" button and selected the "US" layout. One reboot later and, presto, the RAlt key is behaving like the RAlt key again, and not like an AltGr.

I just wanted to thank you for saving me 5 hours of my life!!!

- Posted 25 May 2011 - 06:22 PM

JediKnut

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Last active: Aug 26 2013 10:41 AM
Joined: 08 Mar 2012

@songsoverruins - I don't use AHK I found your post while searching for the same problem on a Dell.

I registered just to let you know this post was a big help & it solved my problem.

Thanks a ton!

Hello all,

So, I just spend about two hours struggling with a keyboard problem and I _finally_ solved it. Thought I might share my thoughts here.

- Posted 08 March 2012 - 07:33 AM

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Hi All. I work in the tech support and came accross the same issue on a customer system this morning. Thanks to your post I was able to resolve the issue on first attempt .. thank you

- Posted 28 September 2012 - 04:51 AM

Pophigh

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Last active: Oct 04 2014 07:30 PM
Joined: 10 Sep 2014

PLS I DONT KNOW HOW TO DO THIS CAUSE IM NOT ENGLISH,CAN ANYONE MAKE A VID/VIDEO AND SEND ME TO EMAIL PLS,PLS I BEG YOU,I CANT PLAY GAMES OR WRITE ON THE PC WITH THIS ABOUT ALT,PLS MAKE ME A VID AND SEND (